AP: Senior IRS Officials Knew of Persecution in 2011

Senior officials at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) knew as early as 2011 that conservative organizations were being targeted based on nothing more than political leanings, the Associated Press reports.

Only yesterday the IRS admitted that groups opposing the president were targeted for persecution by the agency during the 2012 presidential campaign. The White House refuses to say when it first learned of the activity.

Update: And now we know why the IRS suddenly owned-up to what it had done. The AP says the Inspector General had learned of the activity and was preparing to release a report exposing it. They were trying to head it off.

Also, the AP reports “the head of the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt group” learned of the targeting in June 2011. Yet it continued through 2012. And it contradicts what former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman repeatedly told Congress.